Sand and Stone
by Artist of Ran
Summary: Toph is looking for a student to teach them metalbending after the hundered year war is over. Finding no one suitable to teach, Toph traveled to the Elemental Countries to search for a student. After wandering the dessert for some time, she stumbled into Suna. And in the village of Hidden Sand she met a young boy named Gaara. Is he the student she's looking for?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:Searching for a decent kid and travlling to new lands

 **AN: This is my first fanfiction so I would really like some feedback on it. I always liked TophxGaara fanfiction, but then I thought what if Toph wasn't a love intrest of Gaara, but a parental figure of his. This story takes place after the hundred year war ended and before Gaara kills his Uncle. PLease enjoy.**

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Traveling was something Toph always wanted to do after being hidden behind walls for a good part of her life. But, that all changed when she met the Gang, they traveled almost everywhere, the Fire Nation, Earth Nation, and some of the old Air Nomad temples, and thankfully Aang already learned waterbending so they didn't have to go to the North Pole for a long visit. She hated walking on nothing but ice, she couldn't see a thing!

This time though she wouldn't be travelling with the gang, fighting the Fire Nation to restore peace. She would be travelling alone to find a student to teach metalbending to, a bending she discovered when stuck in a cell. Toph didn't want anyone to use it to miss use it, like the Firelord did with his firebending. Normally she would not be picky if anyone asked her to teach earthbending, as long as they respected her or she liked them enough to let them get away with it, but this bending was special to her because it was something she created, so she was the a bit picky to teach anyone.

Sad enough NO ONE in the Earth Nation met Toph's standards thus she went to Omashu to see King Bumi and ask him if he knew anyone that she could teach metalbending to.

"You're the teacher Toph, you must chose who you want to teach.", he said and bit a piece of rock candy.

"But there is no one that suits what few standards I have, I've spent 3 years travelling the Earth Nation and the dessert for this one person. And I even search the Fire Nation somewhat. And guess what, there was absolutely no one! Even the nonbenders!", said Toph.

"Even the nonbenders?...hmmm,"the old King scratched his head and chuckled. "He he he… I wouldn't say that your travels are over just yet."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you ever heard of the Elemental Continents?",he asked.

"Yeah…my parents mentioned them a few times. They are far away from the Elemental Nations and like to keep to themselves, but they welcome trade and visitors, my father does a lot of business with them…Why do you ask?", she replied. "Are you suggesting that I travel there to see if anyone is suited for metalbending!?"

"BINGO!", Bumi shouted.

"You make it sound easy!", she yelled. 'But, it's worth a shot I guess.' She sighed

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"Why, why did it have to be such a long boat ride,"she moaned. She didn't get seasick no that was sokka's thing, she got something much than seasickness, bordem. That and she could see almost nothing because it was a wooden boat. Thankfully her friends gave her a metal walking sick since she was going to a country that had some houses built over water is some areas, or that's what she heard at least. She still thought the stick was useless, but it could be used as a decent bat to whack idiots if need be. And a boat ride later she landed in the Land of Iron.

'Nothing but idiots swinging swords,' she thought.

The people in this place were nice but they kept mentioning people called ninja. They apparently can do stuff similar to bending called jujitsu. 'Hmm, maybe one of these ninja people will be bright enough for me to teach,'she mused. 'Plus if any ninja can do what they call earth jujitsu then anyone can probably earthbend if they are taught,' she sighed. 'Just means more work for me, but that also means that I get to have even more fun messing around with the little prick once I find him.' She smiled a demonic smile when she thought of all the torture she would put her student through. She laughed. She couldn't wait to find her new student.'

She was aiming for the Land of Rock and Stone since that's where she thought that she could find a person as in touch with the ground as her, but since she didn't know where any of them was, and couldn't read any signs, she passed both countries without knowing. And before she knew it she was touching a dessert, sand surrounded her feet and. Even though she liked how the earth covered her feet, she couldn't see as well as she could when she was on solid ground. Since it was one of the few things that bothered her, she bended the sand she was standing on flat, so she could see and walk better.

For a few days is wandered in the dessert and was quickly running out of water and the sun was killing her. She could easily bend some of the sand to make some shade and rest, but since she couldn't bend water out of the ground or food, she needed to find a village soon. 'Some meat sounds really good,'the earthbender thought. Deciding that she shouldn't waste anymore time she focused on the vibrations running through the earth. There was a village a few miles to her left. "Yay! Meat here I come!," she shouted in excitement and started her trek towards the village.

And that village just happened to have a young sand jinchuuriki.

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 **AN: Like it? Don't like it? Please Review! I would like to know what I'm doing wrong, and get new ideas. I'm so sorry that the chapter is so short, I'll try to do better next chapter.**

 **I was wondering is I should pair Toph up with someone eventually. Tell me your thoughts on it, if your against it or not. If your not against it then please tell me who you want Toph paired up with. I would prefer someone not in Konha's Rookie 12 since Toph is going to be older than Gaara by quiet a bit. I was thinking TophxItachi. Tell me what you think and I'll make a poll so you can vote.**

 **PLEASE REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2: A Game

**AN: Hello again people! Thank you to those who have followed, favorited, and reviewed. Anyways I'm still looking for votes on who to pair (or not pair) Toph with. So far the options are…**

 **Itachi x Toph -**

 **Kakashi x Toph -**

 **No pairing -**

 **If you want Toph to be paired up with someone else please say so and I'll add it.**

 **Anyways I don't own Naruto or Avatar the Last Airbender. On with the story.**

 **-Ran**

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"Run Gaara's coming!", the group of kids screamed and ran away as fast as their little legs could carry them.

"W-Wait," said a little voice that seemed to come from the scoruce that they were running away from. "I just want to play," the voice was soft, but Toph could still hear it due to her keen hearing.

'Well this is different,' she thought as she listened to the scene at the entrance of the alley way with a frown. 'Kids just ushally walk away or ignore the kid they don't want to play with, not run away from them as if an angry spirit was on their tail.'

The brats were so focused on running away that they dropped the ball that they were playing with, the ball bounced a few times before rolling my way.

The earthbender took a 'look' at the kid, 'He's skinny and seemed really tired and sad. All in all I don't see why those kids were running away from him, he isn't scary at all. If anything they were running away from his big gray cloud of depression and sadness.' She picked up the ball and and walked over to him. The little boy heard her coming and started to stare at her.

"Here," she said and held the ball out to him. He didn't move. She sighed, "Aren't you going to take it?"

"Why?", he whispered. His voice sounded really small and soft, as if he couldn't believe that someone actually talked to him. His heartbeat seemed to prove her point as well.

"Why what?,"Toph asked, puzzled. 'Doesn't he want to play?,'she thought.

"Why aren't you running away from me? Everyone else does it." His voice seemed to sound really despreate. 'Is my answer that important?' He didn't seem to have any muscle on him, Just a bunch of sticks.

"No, why would I run away from a kid that seems to be a pile of sticks and bones?," she asked.

"…"

She sighed and blew her bangs out of her face. "Well…come on, my arm is getting tired. Do you want the ball or not?"

"…I do…but…," the stick kid said shyly. His heart beat was rising.

'So he does want to play, but he is scared of telling me something,' "But?", she pushed.

"No one would play with me", he shuffled his feet.

"Really? Don't you have any friends?", she asked.

"…" 'Boy this brat is just way to quiet.'

"gezz, then I'll play with you, what do you want to play?"

"…I don't know…never played anything before.", he said. 'Well no wonder he was depperessed. He doesn't know how to have any fun,' she thought and huffed. 'How sad, well I don't have anything better to do.'

"If you don't know then I'll pick the game.," she said as she shifted into a more balanced stance and put the ball on the hat she was wearing. "Alright, the goal of the game is to get the ball off my head. You any methods you want. Okay? " He nodded.

"Ready…GO!," she yelled.

As soon as she said that the red-haired boy started running toward her, but before he could touch her, she took a step to the side to avoid being hit by the kid and stuck her leg out, making him fall to the ground. He got back up and dusted himself off before running at the girl again, but he met the sandy floor once more.

"Hmmm, not bad for a brat but you need to be faster if you ever hope to hit me," she taunted. He frowned. After a few more tries with kid using the same stradsgey the earthbender was starting to get bored. After all you can only trip a kid so many times. But what made her courious was that he didn't get a single scratch from any of the falls he took.

"Maybe…,"she muttered and went closer to the wall. 'If what I'm hoping for is true then…', her train thought was stopped when a little boy started rushing at her once more.

'How did he get so fast?!' she thought. But, that was good, on her part at least. she waited until he was almost to close, until stepping out of the way.

The kid's eyes widen when he saw that what was behind the girl was a soild wall, he tried to stop but he was so close to the wall that he couldn't stop himself. But, before he could hit the wall he slamed right into the net of sand that rose up to stop the boy from hitting the wall that would've left him with a large bruise.

Toph stared at the wall for a minute befre breaking out into a large smile. 'Perfect!,' she thought. Seems like this brat can actually have the potential she was looking for. Sure it was going to take more time to teach the brat how to be a proper earthbending, but she had time to waste.

'He meets one of my standards. Can he meet the others.'

Seeing that the brat was finally on his feet again, she went back into her stance. But, to her surprise the boy started to walk away.

"Oi!," she shouted. "Why the hell are you walking away!"

The kid stopped, "Aren't you scared?" he asked. 'Why didn't she run away already? The sand protected him again, so doesn't she know who he was by now?', all these questions and thoughs ran through his head, making him more and more confused.

"Why the hell should I be scared of some sand? Look kid, I don't want to burst your ego but, I've seen tons of stuff that is way cooler.," she answered. She might've been rolling her eyes, but he couldn't tell because her hat was covering the top-half of her face, bolcking her eyes. Even though he couldn't see her eyes he could see her smirk.

"In fact…,"that smirk just grew. Something about that smirk seemed to light a fire in him. Somehow he was annoyed that she was underestimating his sand, even though he hates the sand's protection and his ability to control it.

"…I bet that you couldn't get this ball from me even if you use your pathetic sand."

"Grrrrrrrr!," was his only thing he said as he let his pride get the better of him and made the sand cover the civilian., determined to show her that his sand was not pathetic.

'Hook, line, and sinker,' she mentally patted herself on the back as she saw him take the bait and let his pride consume him. At first she thought the the game enough will make him frusterated enough that he would give into his emotions then, but apparently the brat could control his emotions a little bit. But, that control broke when she insulted his ability to use the sand.

"Come on," she taunted with a smirk on her face. "Show me what you got."

* * *

ANBU Hawk didn't like this mission at all. Simply watch Gaara and determine if he was a threat or not and report to the Kazekage about his activites was the easy part. But, like the other ANBU that have watched the jinnchuki he couldn't help but be scared. The kid was clearly unstable and could snap any second at anyone. Everyone in the village knew to stay away from him, and the village didn't have a lot of vistors besides merchants so it was easy for the civilians to giude those visitors away from Gaara, or at least warn them.

'Has no one warned the girl of Gaara!,'he mentally shouted in his mind and hoped that someone, anyone would just come by and call her over just so he wouldn't blow his cover in order to save her life from an angry jinchuukin. 'Of course she had to pick the number one person to not piss off!' he started to tense, ready to rush in once the sand started to act. Hopefully he could get her out of the sand before Gaara decided to crush the girl.

But, to his disbelief the sand around the girl turned to stone and sunk back into the ground, turning to sand once again, leaving the smirking girl without a scratch.

'NO WAY!,'Hawk mentally screamed in his head. 'What kind of jujstu was that? Did she even use hand signs?' Even though it took a few minuets to shake himself out of his shock and collect his thoughts, he could still not move.

'I must tell the Fourth about this,' he decided and waited until he could report to the kazekage. Observing what Gaara and the strange girl would do next.

* * *

"The sand listened to you," was the only thing he said as he stared at the girl. What else could he say? No one has ever munipulated the sand like that before, and she didn't even use a jujstu to do it! Plus she wasn't even scared of him still.

The smirk on her face disappeared for a second in what he guessed was surprise, then she smiled."The sand listening to me, eh. I guess that's one way of putting it," she laughed. "Your funny ,kid,"she bent down to his height. "What's your name?"

She didn't know him? So that's why she didn't run off. If he told her who he was will she turn and run away like all the others? 'I can only hope…,' he thought as he closed his eyes, not wanting to see her look at him in fear and run away.

"Gaara." He waited, waited to hear the footsteps of the girl he just played with, running away. But, they never came. He cracked his eyes open just to make sure she didn't disappear. Hoping, hoping that…

"Nice to meet you Gaara, my name's Toph."

"...You stayed?"

She cocked her head. "Do you want me to go?"

"N-no, but-"

"Then I'm staying. No one has told me what to do before and I'm not about to let anyone start, especially by some kid," her voice held so much authority behind it that Gaara knew that the conversation was over. "Anyways, see you tomorrow, meet you right here at the same spot, okay? When the sun rises." With that she stood up and started to walk away.

He will get to see her again. That thought alone made a smile appear on his face as he nodded furiously and started to run home. He couldn't wait for tomorrow.

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 **AN: Again thank you to everyone who reviewed. I will try to update at least every month, but no promises. thanks again, please review and tell me who you want to Toph to end up with.**


	3. Chapter 3:Night Meetings

**A.N: I am sorry this chapter took me soooo long to complete. I kept getting sidetracked or stumped. THANK YOU SO MUCH! for people that voted, followed and favorited. (I still can't believe that there is still so many)**

 **If you want to give your opinion on how the story should roll please go ahead. I would be happy if you did it would help my writer's block tremendously. But, I do get the final say if I do use it or not.**

 **Itachi x Toph-2**

 **Kakashi x Toph-3**

 **None-1**

 **By the way, Toph is 15 years old and Gaara 5 years old**

 **Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the plot. Sadly none of the characters.**

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Chapter 3:Night time Meetings

Night was falling and everyone in the village was starting to retreat into their homes. Parents were ushering the young off to bed and the elderly was resting their bones. Soon the only people who were active was the ninja.

They patrolled the village streets, jumping from roof to roof, barely making a single sound so that could wake any of the sleeping civilians or resting ninjas.

Well any normal person could sleep through the night without a problem. But, Toph is no ordinary person.

The jumping on the roofs of the neighboring buildings made so many vibrations that it became almost impossible to sleep. And a tired Toph is never a patient Toph.

"First a security check that took way too much time and now a couple of noisy idiots that don't know the meaning of stealth," she muttered darkly to herself. She opened the window.

Judging by the vibrations they were going to reach the hotel she was staying at soon, and she couldn't wait to yell their ears off. Quickly going over every curse and insult she could think of she took a deep before the ninja landed on the building across from her's. As soon as their foot touched the building, she screamed,

 **"Oi you thumping platypus bear! Stop your freaking Stomping! It's way too freaking LOUD! Some people want to sleep, so if you dimwits want to have any dignity left, then I would suggest that you quit stomping on people's houses' and walk like a normal person instead of a hyper idiot that doesn't know their left from their right. Next time you freaking ninja are so loud then I'll freaking castrate ya."**

The ninja seemed to freeze at her last sentence, and promptly crossed their legs. They didn't seem to be moving so with just a step to the side the poor ninja were flung to the other side of the village.

"Good riddance," said Toph, as she flung herself back on to her bed and closed her eyes, to get some much needed sleep if she didn't want to chew out that poor little kid.

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Meanwhile, the Kazekage was spending his night as usual, placing his stamp and signature on the many, many, many papers. Even though boredom was giving him a slow death, he managed to survive by setting goals and limits for himself to complete each day.

Today he was trying to tackle stack number three, his goal of the day. He was just about to sign the last paper for the night, before two chunin came flying through the window… and into the neat stacks of paperwork.

Paper flew everywhere. Flying through the air before fluttering to the ground like confetti at a birthday parties.

The Kazekage just stared in horror at the floating papers for a few minutes, before his face morphed into fury. He turned slowly to the ninja that were responsible for the mess.

By this time the two poor chunin were shivering in fear, the bloodlust the Kazekage was giving off unconsciously was just enough to scare any average ninja. I mean who wouldn't after you were just flung through the window of one of the most powerful people in the village and messed up the paperwork they have worked on all day.

" **You better have one good reason why I should not assign you to every single D ranked job without pay for an entire week** ,"the Kazekage said darkly.

"W-We were p-p-patrol-lling t-the villa-age, w-when someone in the civilian residence yelled at usf-for being t-t-too loud and t-then t-t-the ground t-through us here,"replied one of the ninja. Even though the stuttering made it hard to understand some parts, he got the jist of it.

And he didn't like it. Not one bit. It was not irregular for a sand nin to sleep in the civilian residence. But they said that they were thrown by stone. That there was either a spy or a missing nin in the village. Both spelled trouble one way or another, they needed to be captured before they put the village in danger.

"Go back there and find that person. Bring them back," he ordered.

"Hai", they chorused. And disappeared out the window.

The kazekage sighed and sat back down in his chair, turning sad eyes to the fallen stacks of paperwork.


	4. Chapter 4:Waiting

**Sand and Stone**

 **A.N: I am sorry this chapter took me soooo long to complete. I kept getting sidetracked or stumped. THANK YOU SO MUCH! for people that voted, followed and favorited. (I still can't believe that there is still so many)**

 **If you want to give your opinion on how the story should roll please go ahead. I would be happy if you did it would help my writer's block tremendously. But, I do get the final say if I do use your suggestion or not.**

 **Itachi x Toph-4**

 **Kakashi x Toph-4**

 **None-4**

 **Wow a three way tie, interesting. The Poll is still open so please continue voting.**

 **Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the plot. Sadly none of the amazing characters.**

Chapter 4: Waiting

For the first time in his life Gaara wanted to go outside right as the sun came up. It wasn't really hard physically since he couldn't sleep that easily in the first place, but he had to let Yashamaru know where he would be going. He didn't want the one person who cared for him to hate him like all of the other villagers.

'But Yashamaru won't be up just yet." Gaara thought before he touched his caretaker's door. 'Would it be okay for me to wake him up. That Lady said to be there at sunrise, if he didn't show up, would she leave?'

" **Yes! She would! So go there and kill her before your babysitter wakes up and kill her!** ," That dark voice in the back of his head kept chanting.

But if he did that the weird lady wouldn't play with him anymore. Maybe she can become his friend, after all the sand listened to her.

With that thought he knocked on the door. At first there were some shuffles, but then the door opened up to reveal the kind face of his caretaker.

"Gaara-sama?" Yashamaru asked since this was the first time the little boy woke up since he was four when yashamaru explained the concept of sleeping when it was nighttime and not to bother him when he was sleeping, so he could have enough energy for the next day.

"What do you need?"

"Um...Yashamaru…", Gaara started to ask but trailed off unsure.

"Yes?", Yashamaru asked, curious to why Gaara was waking him so early in the mourning. It was almost time for the sun to come out. Did Gaara want to watch the sunrise with him?

"Do you need my help Gaara-sama?"

"No, but can I go outside please? I promised someone that I would meet them there at sunrise," Gaara asked shuffling his feet.

Yashamaru was caught off guard slightly. Someone asked Gaara to meet him somewhere in the village this early? Normally people would stay away from or outright avoid his presence all together. It sounded ridiculous and tickled his shinobi senses. He put on a tentative smile.

"Do you know who asked to meet you?" he asked." because I would also like to meet your friend as well." 'and see what their motives are.' but that last part was left unsaid.

Gaara looked up from the floor with eager hope in his eyes. "She is a weird lady who wear a big green hat. The sand listens to her. She is like me!"

'Someone can manipulate sand like Gaara? How only those of the Sabuku clan has the closest ability to Shukaku's powers!' Hiding his inner panic and worry he asked Gaara, what the 'Weird Lady's' name was. But to his displeasure Gaara didn't know.

"She walked away after telling me where to meet. I'll find out today, so can I go?," cue big puppy eyes.

Yashamaru sighed. The only way he could find out was to meet her himself. "Yes, you can go. "But, I'm coming with you." Gaara beamed and he started to run to the front door. As soon as he was out of the door he started to sprint, Yashamaru following him. The sun was already rising. He had to hurry, otherwise she might leave.

But when the two of them reached the meeting point, the strange lady wasn't there yet.

'Did she leave?' Gaara thought. his shoulders sinking into himself. A hand on his shoulders pulled Gaara out of his depressing thoughts.

"We're still a little early, we can wait a little while." The retired shinobi said, trying to cheer the young jinchuriki up. Gaara nodded. And so they waited.


	5. Chapter 5: Strange Lady

Chapter 5:The Strange Lady

 **A.N. Thank you for waiting such a long time for this chapter. I had already written it all out but then I lost it. Now that I had I found it again I can finally post it.**

 **I'm also thankful for all the votes I got for Toph's pairing poll. If you haven't done so already then you can still vote. To vote please PM me you vote or in the reviews.**

 **Toph x Itachi-24**

 **Toph x Kakashi-18**

 **No pairing-15**

 **I have also gotten a lot of requests for different pairings than Itachi and Kakashi. I really like some of them, but for this story I'm going to stick with the people I already have. But, I might use those pairings for a different story.**

 **I will try to update more often, but no promises I update really really slow.**

 **Disclaimer: don't own anything but the plot.**

 **...**

Toph was not a morning person. Why she even asked the kid to meet her at dawn was beyond her. (She blamed it on the hot sun and her excitement over the amount of potential the little boy showed.) But, what was the use of seeing if he was really going to show or if she wasn't going to be there in the first place.

So she dragged herself out of her bed and crawled to the bathroom so she could get at least presentable for public appearances, not that she could tell what she looked like, but Katara usually approved her appearance when she actually gave some effort so she must look nice. If what her childhood taught her anything it was how to act in society and that appearances depended on everything. Who's eye to catch, and whose eyes' not to catch. With that thought she smacked her hat on her head, grabbed her stick and started to walk towards the place where she last saw the little brat.

Along the way she thought about the possibility of actually taking the brat on as a student, he had a high chance of becoming a strong bender with his connection to the earth around him. If she did take the brat on as a student then she was going to put that brat through every bit of training she could think of. From how to act in front of noble to metalbending. She only stumbled into him by chance who knew when she would come across a person with that kind of potential again.

She broke herself out of her thoughts before entering the alleyway where she met the sand brat. Surprisingly the boy was there before her, and with him was a taller man and two of those hopping ninja.

'The boy must be someone important if he has guards.' she thought, being reminded of the guards that followed her back when she was still living with her parents.

She continued walking towards the dou until she was right in front of the man. The man tensed and his hand strayed to his thigh pouch. The air around him filled with a warning that she could only predict as protectiveness and maybe...suprise?

'Oh a family member. And from his build it seems like he's a fighter too.' Finishing her assessment of the brats companion, she quickly ignored him in favor of the more important things in life. Like the little sand bag, before her.

"My, my I didn't expect a child like you to be up at this hour" she chuckled. " But never the less it is still dawn…'or I think it is'... and you're here, for something you've not been told what for or any idea who I am." she flicked the little brats forehead. Strangley he froze when she touched him. She frowned, a child like him shouldn't be cringing at a soft flick like that. Or did she underestimate that strength she used in that flick? If the the latter was the case then that would need to change quickly. A few sessions of dodging boulders should be good, oops she was getting off topic.

"Now tell me why did you come? Clearly your parents are fine with you roaming around the village at whatever hour you please and have some sense to send you with some protection to meet a complete stranger? But for spirits above why?"

The boy shuffled with his feet for a bit, shrinking into himself. Toph only frowned harder at the reaction. Seeing as he only had the courage to show up but not even say a word only told her that he would have a hard time adjusting to earthbending. An earthbender had to have a firm resolve to move the earth beneath them, if his resolve was wavering over a simple question then his resolve won't be enough to go beyond the basics.

She then turned and started to walk away. Only to stop short by a cry of "WAIT?!" The sand started to get pulled from underneath her feet.

Before she could trip over her feet she bended the sand beneath her into solid rock and tripped the boy. But, the next instant sharp metal was touching her neck. When she realized who was holding the sharpened kunai she let out a frustrated sigh, 'If his family is scared of him just tripping, then this is just going to be more of a pain in the neck than I thought."

"Geezzzz. are you on a sugar high this early in the morning because that's a bit of an overreaction to simply tripping the brat." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm and she knew it. At another time and maybe a different setting she would be acting a little more professionally in front of a potential student but she was still half asleep and the guard's overreaction was annoying her quite a bit. So did she regret annoying this person? Hell no it was entertaining!

The guard gritted his teeth before answering her it a voice that appeared to be soft yet it holds a sharp edge to it, "What kind of jujstu was that." The little knife was still not moving from her neck.

Now, she could simply bend the metal away with a flick of her fingers, but who cares. This guy was fun even if he was a bit annoying. So with a huff she responded as best as she could.

"That's not one of your silly jujstu you hopping crickets do, I'm an earthbender it's as easy as breathing to me. So you can untwist your panties and take you little kitchen knife away from my throat now." Was the taunt necessary? Yes. Yes it was.

"If you are a bender then what are you doing in the elemental countries instead of your cozy little piece of the world." If she had a gold coin for every time a person asked her that question since she got to this continent, se would be richer than her parents.

"Looking for the right brat to teach and that brat over there is showing a lot of potential." The knife next to her throat held steady but she could feel the vibrations within the man wavering.

"Why not a bender in your own country?"

"Because I'm picky"

"Thats an excuse." Finally the man backed away from her and gave her a little breathing room.

"Nope, so kid would you like to be taught how to be as awesome as me" Now that the man no longer held her at knife point she could finally get to her main goal, the sand brat.

"I can learn to control the sand?" Why the hell did that seem so hopeful?

"Yes, but also how to bend all of the forms of earth."

"YES!", she could feel the brats excitement, and the vibrations told her that he was extremely happy. If the thought of just bending made him this exciting then she can't wait to get him started.

"Alrigh"- "No"

And of course someone had to twist his underwear again and ruin their fun.

"What!" the little sand stone yelled, at least it wasn't just her that felt like burying the man in a sand dune.

"Gaara-sama you can't just say yes to this foreigner. You don't even know her and your father needs to approve it first."

"But, he said that I need to control the sand."

"Yes but he is currently training you in that" Oh, so the father of the little sand mite had some sandbending skills. Well if the father was teaching the brat then he was doing an absolutely horrible job.

"But its not working"

"That because it takes practice and time" 'And a good teacher.'

"Are you his father?" she cutting into the conversation.

"Well no" the man answered a little uneasily.

"Are you Gaara?"

"No."

"Then your opinion doesn't matter. Okay kid, my name's Toph i'll teach you how to become an earthbender, and make you the best. Well except me of course." She said towards the direction of the little brat.

"You still need his father's approval"

"But I want her to teach me" Ugh this brat was giving her too much work already.

"I'll go see him, but his opinion matters as much as the bugs beneath my feet."

"We'll see." Said the man. Was it suppose to sound ominous?


End file.
